Summary
- The prequel film contains many connections to the first four Hunger Games movies, including familiar names, places, and songs.
- Coriolanus Snow, as an 18-year-old mentor, is a central character and the most obvious connection to the previous films.
- The prequel introduces the first mentors for the Hunger Games, who are not former winners and showcases the use of drones in the arena for the first time.
The events of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes take place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) won the 74th Hunger Games, but the prequel contains numerous references to the first four movies in the franchise. The 2023 film depicts Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) as an 18-year-old trying to prove himself in the Capitol, and it highlights his complex relationship with the female tribute from District 12 for the 10th Hunger Games, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler).
Director Francis Lawrence and co-writers Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt wove many Easter eggs throughout the movie that connect to the wider The Hunger Games franchise. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes contains names, places, songs, and more that should sound familiar to those who watched the previous four films. None of the original actors from the other movies appear in the prequel, but a couple of recognizable characters are at the center of the story. Additionally, plenty of elements work as narrative devices to foreshadow what happens to Snow when he rules over Panem.
Who Is In The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes? Cast & Character Guide
Rachel Zeigler and Tom Blyth lead a talented cast in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes. But which characters are they playing?12 Coriolanus Snow
Snow appears in all five films
The most obvious connection that the prequel has to the first four Hunger Games films is Coriolanus Snow, better known as President Snow. The book that the movie is based on is told from young Coriolanus' perspective as he becomes a mentor during the 10th Hunger Games. The film adapts the story and explains how Snow turns into the ruthless leader fans met 64 years later and whose sworn enemy is a 16-year-old girl from District 12.
"It's the things we love most that destroy us,"
Whereas Donald Sutherland plays Snow when the character is in his eighties and ruling over Panem, Tom Blyth portrays him as a teenager. But Sutherland has a subtle offscreen cameo at the end of the prequel when his voice is heard saying, "It's the things we love most that destroy us," which foreshadows Snow's ending in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the movie franchise as a whole.
Every Way Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes Foreshadows Katniss' Future
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes takes place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen’s first Hunger Games, but the film has many nods to the Girl on Fire.11 "The Hanging Tree"
The song is heard in the prequel and the third movie
Music plays an important role in all the Hunger Games movies, and one song ties the prequel to the third film in the series — "The Hanging Tree." Katniss sings the tune while she and the propaganda team are in District 12 capturing footage for the Rebellion's Airtime Assault in Mockingjay – Part 1. Her performance is aired to the people of Panem, and District 5 rebels later sing the song while on their way to blow up the hydroelectric dam that supplies electricity to the Capitol.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes reveals the melody was written by Lucy Gray Baird, a resident of District 12 and the winner of the 10th Hunger Games. She coins "The Hanging Tree" following the execution of an innocent man who was blamed for three murders. Some fans believe that Lucy Gray taught her cousin, Maude Ivory Baird, the song, and she passed it on to Katniss' father, who sang it to Katniss. The theory is that Maude Ivory is Katniss' grandmother, but neither the movie nor the book confirms that.